Walter Marino
Game Designer / Level Designer

Time (Until now)
13 Days, March-April 2024

Genres
FPS, Action-Adventure, Single Player

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Level Type

Indoor, Linear, Parallel/Non-Linear moments

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Length

Around 15-20 minutes (Until now)

Technology used
Blockout & Coding - Unreal Engine 5, Blueprints, Geometry Brushes

Analysis:
An Action-Adventure FPS level, located inside an abandoned factory. The level is non-linear, allowing the player to pick the pathway and explore, discovering the many secrets hidden along the way. 

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The Tasks:​

• Mixing Linear and non-Linear elements;

• Great use of verticality, both for guiding during the exploration and for creating a great player experience;

• Creating a Tutorial that was able to explain mechanics and dynamics in a playful mode, without relying too much on texts and hard-coded elements;

• Showing my ability to quickly craft levels and ability to iterate

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My creative process:​

• Creating a mood board for the general aesthetic of the level;

• Jump into the engine;

• Break the level into sections;

• Define as soon as possible the player destination(s) for each section

• Creating the Golden Route to reach the destination

• Populating the map with additional geometry, gameplay elements and affordances.

• Group Playtesting & Polishing.

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Level Design Rules:

• Stairs are boring;

• Doors are useless;

• Verticality is the best friend of Exploration;

• The destination must be clear from the beginning.

• Visual blockers help make the players curious.

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Level Design Language:

• The stars mark the destinations or side objectives;

• The pipes are the guidelines of this level to reach the end of the map.

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A core element of the level is the feeling of vertigo, the player is often challenged with jumps at great heights and wants to make the player feel accomplished. Usually, those jumps are relatively easy, as I usually put the harder moments in places where the player can quickly "recover terrain" and redo certain gameplay moments without feeling frustrated.

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Generally, I played a lot with the verticality, both to give a feeling of progression (since the player can look down to where they were before) and to use the vertical elements as a point of reference during the exploration.

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I've also used the geometry to guide the player's eyes along the map, trying to balance clear communication of the objective with hiding some visual elements to create a feeling of curiosity and willingness to explore.

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A big challenge was to prevent the player from feeling lost in certain areas denser with geometry and surrounded by vertical elements, and I've tried to balance that by placing interactive objects when the player is supposed to go (crates, elevators, falling platforms, etc.)

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A strong point of this level is the open exploration opportunities for this non-linear level, as many routes lead to the final destination, helping the feeling of being rail-roaded toward the end. This feeling is present also in many mini-puzzles inside the level.

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I also placed some placeholders for future enemy encounters, to place properly once the level is complete and I will have some time to design and implement their behaviour trees. But for now, some silhouettes will do the job just fine.

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My design philosophy is to create an experience for the player, and my levels and designs will always reflect this idea.

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"The levels want to be played. How to do this it's up to the player."